Rosewood History
Marburg History

From the Queensland Times (Ipswich), Saturday 28 August 1926, page 7

MARBURG’S EARLY DAYS.
STUMP SERVES AS LOCKUP.

Mrs. F. Primus, of Lucerne Park, Rosevale, writing appreciatively of the Marburg articles in this series, states that she was reared at Marburg and still calls it home, although she now lives more than 20 miles away. She is looking forward to the day when the Marburg school celebrates its jubilee. She was one of the first scholars en rolled, and is now the grandmother of children attending other schools. Mrs. Primus remembers Marburg’s pioneering days, when the roads between the settlers’ humpies were tracks so narrow that two persons could not walk together along them through the dense scrub and prickly undergrowth. In the beginning of the settlement she was only six years old, but still remembers the settlers helping each other with the building of the crude shanties that kept out the rain and some of the wind. Among the pioneers were Messrs. W. Hohnke, Hoepner, Zessin, Nitz, Kickbusch, Teuerkaup, Knopke, Stuhmcke, Gigler, Greske, E. Moriarty, Schultz, Beutel, and Jamieson. Another inhabitant well remembered by the youngsters of the time was Jamieson’s billy goat, which paid unwelcome visits to the various selections when the men were out working, and laid siege to the humpies, not allowing the women to go out of the doors. A badly timed attack when the men were at home put an end to its visitations. Among those who lived close to the township site were the Hefferan family, an old lady and her three sons, generally known as Billy, Micky, and Patsy Hefferan. Their property ran from the township up the hill beyond the Marburg hospital site. The whole block was later bought by the late Mr. G. Dobson, who cleared part of it and built a fine residence, which was burned to the ground soon after, on the site on which Mr. Biddle’s home now is. 

EARLY HARDSHIPS.
The first Marburg courthouse, she writes, was erected on what is called Frederick’s Hill, on an allotment ad joining the present Queensland National Bank Manager’s residence. The “lockup” was a large blue-gum stump with a stout chain fastened to it. One man she remembers, “having taken too much of the ‘crather,'” became too violent to be kept in the building, but the stump lock-up was quite secure and chain and padlock held him until the effects had passed off. The first police officer at Marburg was Constable O’Malley, Mrs Primus believes. The present court-house stands in the place of the first Marburg bakery, which was run by two brothers named Redwood.
“The hardship of the old settlers of Marburg can better be imagined than described. The drought of 1877 was a time that will never be forgotten. The men had to leave their farms to earn a few shillings by odd jobs to keeps the wolf from the door. The women carted water from the Bremer River at Walloon to endeavour to keep the stock alive and for household use. They made the trip daily with horses harnessed to trollies made of bush timber, with wooden axles and block wheels, each carrying a 50-gallon cask. We see a lot in print about child slavery at the present time. The trouble now is that the child who is asked to get the cows, which are two chains away, walks five chains to catch a horse to do it. In my time a boy or girl of seven or eight years had to do more work than they are prepared to do at 18 years at present. As an old friend said to me recently: ‘hard work won’t kill anyone.’ I believe that to be true. I had to tackle any thing and everything, late and early and it did not kill me. I am still going strong.”
Despite the work of these days, the youngsters still contrived to have plenyy of fun. Mrs. Primus says that, with the otlher girls of the school, she was fond of playing cricket. Mr. F. Retschlag, sen., and herself often played together.